Woman claims $60K reward for arson tip

SAN BERNARDINO, Calif. 
A woman has been paid a $60,000 reward for giving authorities the tip that led to an arsonist responsible destroying more than 1,000 homes in San Bernardino County.

The Riverside Press-Enterprise reports ( http://bit.ly/18I17f1) Elizabeth Rehkop, the suspect's great aunt, applied for the reward in October.

The October 2003 fire burned about 91,000 acres of San Bernardino, including mountain communities of Cedar Glen and Crestline.

Rehkop called a Chino Hills sherff's deputy in January 2004 to say she suspected Ricky Lee Fowler's involvement, saying he had admitted to being in the area in a white van, like the one witnesses said they saw a flare thrown from.

Fowler was convicted of arson and murder for five stress-related deaths from the fire. He was sentenced to death in January.